In response to the attack on its employees there, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) at the ward level in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
This was stated in a statement released on Thursday in Abuja by Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.
According to Mr. Jude Okwuonu, INEC’s administrative secretary in Enugu State, gunmen attacked commission officials involved in the CVR at the Community Primary School Umuopu in Umuozzi Ward 19 of the Igboeze North Local Government Area at around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Okoye.
“To scatter registrants and registration officials, the gunmen shot sporadically into the air. A member of our staff was hurt in the ensuing stampede and is now receiving medical care in a hospital.
“However, two voter registration machines as well as staff members’ personal belongings like mobile phones were lost.
Okoye declared, “Therefore, the ward level registration of voters in Igboeze North is hereby suspended.”
He recalled that an unidentified group of arsonists burned down the INEC office in the Igboeze North Local Government Area on July 3.
The local government authority’s vigilantes helped the INEC carry out ward level registration in spite of the attack, according to Okoye, who also added that “it is one of the centres that has now been attacked.”
Okoye claimed that the police had received a report of the incident for investigation.
